


the lifeless live again

by days4daisy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chocolate Box Treat, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Obedience Disks, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-10 20:06:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13508832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/days4daisy/pseuds/days4daisy
Summary: Korg decides that he likes the ghost.





	the lifeless live again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wnnbdarklord](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wnnbdarklord/gifts).



> I loved your alt-Ragnarok prompt about Loki being too incoherent to lead Korg and the inmate bunch off Sakaar. This...weird thing came from there, lol :) Happy Chocolate Box!

Loki's few coherent thoughts cycle between _Damn Thor_ and _The Grandmaster will kill me_ and _painsuchpain_ and _Damn. Thor_. The disk attached to his back negates much else.

Thor _tricked_ him. Appealed to his _emotion_ , of all things, and planted this foul thing on him. Loki is furious! He's also begrudgingly impressed.

Damn Thor, going off to die alone on Asgard. If he was so intent on throwing his life away, he should have done so on Sakaar so Loki could reap the reward. Now, he's off to his doom against their bloodthirsty sister. Poor Thor. More might than mind in all matters. Fine. Let him die. Loki doesn’t care in the slightest.

Loki waits, resigned, quivering on the floor. Will the Grandmaster be alone when he finds Loki here, or will his whole court accompany him? Perhaps he'll use his lovely Melt Stick on the spot. What a spectacle Loki's disintegrating skin will make.

But it isn’t the Grandmaster who finds Loki. It’s a...figure made of rock, trailed by a motley bunch. Does one have scissors for hands?

“Hey, man,” the mountain greets. “We’re getting out of here. Want to come?” Thor’s cellmate; Loki recognizes him now. Not loyal to the Grandmaster. Potentially useful.

One large ship remains in the Grandmaster's hangar. If they leave now, there may still be time to make it to Asgard before Hela's destruction is complete. Not that Loki _cares_ what happens to the place or his stupid ox of a brother, but if he did…

A problem, though. Loki cannot speak. His body convulses in an unending mess.  He makes sounds. “Ah- As…” Broken, jittery mumbles. Loki groans tightly and spasms on the floor.

Scissor-Hands bleats a smear of noise at his large compatriot. The Kronan nods solemnly. “Yeah, Miek. Scrambled like eggs.” He bends beside Loki, his boulder knee colliding with the ground. Loki flinches and twitches. His head is pounding, and his veins want to spring out of his body.

“You've got one on you, yeah?” The Kronan rolls Loki to his side as if he weighs nothing. Loki grits his teeth, miserably helpless. “There it is.” He rubs a thumb over the disk on Loki’s back. Loki hisses and twists. _Damn Thor!_

“Easy,” the Kronan tsks. He looms over Loki, eyes narrowed and pensive. “Hey, um. You wouldn’t happen to be a ghost, would you?”

“As…” Loki tries angrily. “gah.”

“You see," the Kronan says, "my good friend Other Doug was chatting with a ghost a few nights back. He looked an awful lot like you. I said to piss off, but I didn’t mean to slight you, friend. It's not your fault you're a ghost.

"Me and ghosts got a weird history, man. When I was a kid, my mum told me there was a ghost living out in the woods. A small one- a baby ghost, I guess. It would get me if I went out at night, she said.

"I don’t think there was a ghost," the Kronan continues. "Mum did that, made up stuff to teach things. Like, only eat nuts from the good trees or you'll grow rot in your cracks! I learned a lot from my mum, but she lied like a demon.

“But you're ok, man. I don't think ghosts are too bad - oh hey!” His rock hand holds a remote, no bigger than his pinkie finger. “Look what Miek found! Freedom, ghost.” He clicks a button. The obedience disk clanks from Loki's back to the hangar floor.

Loki tries to sit up. “Asgard,” he grits out. His head spins, and he cannot stop this ridiculous shaking. “We need to...oh…”

He’s on his back again, blinking rapidly. Everything is heavy, colors smearing...dizzy and... _no_...

“Hey, ghost, you ok, man?” The Kronan frowns. “You look, uh, white. Whiter. Is that a dead thing?”

Loki cannot believe this idiot thinks he’s a ghost, but he’s unable to say so. His traitor body gives, and he passes out on the floor.

***

Korg decides that he likes the ghost.

It’s too bad he’s not as entertaining as ghosts should be. He doesn’t do anything scary, doesn’t even poof in and out like he did back in the dungeons of Sakaar. All the ghost seems to do is sleep. This, though, he does very well.

It’s a good thing Miek isn’t dead. Korg thought he killed the poor guy on the bridge. Turns out, he was sleeping too. Now that he’s awake, Korg has someone to talk to about their new ghost friend. “I want to name him,” Korg says. “It’s weird to call a ghost 'ghost.' It’s like calling a cat ‘cat,' you know? It works, but it's lazy, isn't it? You think he has a name of his own? We should ask Other Doug. Other Doug knows the ghost...he liked tossing things at him, anyway.”

Other Doug - no, Lord of Thunder - no, _Thor_ goes very still when Korg shows him the ghost. His one eye shines oddly under the cargo bay lights. “This is who told you to come to Asgard?”

“Yeah, man,” Korg says. “Freaky, right? Said ‘Asgard,’ then boom, out like a dead bulb. Seemed like bad form to turn down a ghost. I'd be pissed if someone said to hell with my last wish.”

“He’s not…” Thor chuckles. It isn't a happy sound. A little sad, Korg thinks. Thor kneels next to the ghost. His smile doesn’t seem to know how big it wants to be. Wide one moment, uncertain the next.

Thor squeezes the ghost's hand. “His name is Loki,” he says. “He’s my brother.” Thor pats Korg’s arm before he leaves.

Korg turns to Miek. “The ghost is his _brother_? That’s so sad!” Miek chirps in melancholy agreement.

Korg was already keen on taking care of the ghost, but knowing he's Thor’s brother seals the deal. He owes Thor a debt for his freedom from Sakaar. Thor claims his service repaid by the help given to the people of Asgard. But, to Korg, freedom is worth a lot more than one good deed.

Miek naps across the cargo hold, and Korg reclines against a wall, the ghost boneless in his lap. He’s not quite as pale as he was on Sakaar - snowy now, not ashes to ashes. Korg misses snow. It makes him slick and tingle all over.

Korg strokes the ghost’s hair. He has pretty, long hair and a delicate face. Korg does not touch his skin for fear of scratching. It’s awfully smooth for someone who, in life, was the warrior Thor’s brother. Maybe a pretty face is part of being a ghost.

Strangely, Loki is breathing. His chest rises and falls in deep rhythm, and Korg watches him, lulled by it. If Korg didn’t know better, he would think Loki was alive.

Korg tells Loki things to pass the time. He tells him about his childhood on Krona. He tells him about learning to scrap and shoot. He tells him about the bad stuff that happened back home, about his revolution and the pamphlets. And he spends a hearty amount of time on his mum’s boyfriend, who he hates. Korg tells him about arriving on Sakaar, too. The Grandmaster, the disks, the fights to the death.

Korg wonders if Loki died in battle. Maybe he won't like this kind of story.

“Stop that.” The ghost sounds awful when he speaks at last, hoarse and wheezy. His eyes are not open, but his brow creases like he’s mad. This makes sense to Korg. There aren’t many tales about happy ghosts. If they’re happy, they’re not ghosts, right? They go wherever happy dead things go.

“Oh hey, you’re alive!” Korg declares, and frowns. “Sorry, mate. Bad form.”

“Your hand is rock,” Loki says irritably. “My head is not. It’s quite uncomfortable.”

Korg considers his hand stroking Loki's hair. “Oh yeah, sure.” He drapes his hand on Loki’s head instead, rock fingers framed along his forehead. The ghost huffs, but he doesn’t speak of it.

“Where are we?” Loki asks instead.

“Ship,” Korg says. “Off Sakaar.”

Loki’s eyes open, a sluggish, glassy green. He frowns at their cargo hold surroundings. “How long was I out?”

“Hard to say,” Korg says. “Couple days? Multiplied by some vortexes and a few realm jumps?”

The ghost’s face is odd. His eyes stare straight ahead but never lock on anything.

“You ok, bro?” Korg asks. _Other than being dead_ , he thinks, but it seems rude to say.

“Asgard,” Loki says. His jaw steels, like he’s resigned himself to something. “I want to see it.”

Korg frowns. “We can, I guess. There’s not much of it left. Or, um, anything.”

“What?”

“It sort of...blew up?” Korg scratches his temple. A pair of pebbles pop free and clank to the floor.

Loki turns large eyes on him. “You...went to Asgard. Did you find Thor?”

“Thor? Oh yeah, yeah! He’s - I don’t know. Bridge? His room? They’re all here.” Korg waves a general hand. “Everyone we could get out, anyway.”

“You went to Asgard.” Loki breathes unsteadily. “Thor is here.” His crooked mouth looks something like a smile.

“You kept saying 'Asgard,' it would have been wrong not to go. All things considered, you know?” He pats the ghost’s head in sympathy, no mind paid to the wince the touch draws. “Asgard’s gone. Sorry, bro.”

Loki makes an odd sound. "I’m...ok with that, I think," he says.

“Oh good.” Korg smiles. He likes that he helped make a ghost happy. Between saving a bunch of Asgardians and this, he should get into the hero business! “So,” he glances at Loki, “what happens now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you, um,” Korg thinks about his words, trying to keep them respectful, “at peace?”

Loki hisses a surprised laugh. “I don't think that’s possible for me.” His eyes glint amusement.

Korg hesitates. On one hand, it’s awful sad, a ghost that can’t be at peace. On the other, if the ghost is at peace, he’ll go away. Which - it’s selfish, yeah, but Korg likes the ghost. His company is pretty good, and he feels warm and soft tucked against Korg’s rigid corners.

“Long as you’re cool with that,” Korg decides. Loki smirks and says nothing.

Their quiet is comfortable. Korg listens to Loki breathe and waits for him to fade out of his grasp. It’s what ghosts do, right - twinkle in and out like faraway stars. But Loki stays very real on him, heated and close. It's kinda nice.

“Korg,” Loki says, “that’s your name, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, man,” Korg replies. “And you’re Loki. Your bro told me.”

“Mmm.” Loki looks up. “That pamphlet idea you told me about. Your uprising.”

Korg blinks, delighted. “You heard me? I was just saying things, man, I didn't know what sort of stuff you'd want to talk about, but-”

“It’s terrible,” Loki interrupts.

Korg blinks again. “Yeah?”

“It’s the worst idea for a revolution I’ve ever heard." The ghost has surely been around, being a ghost and all. The worst idea he’s ever heard? Korg is impressed with himself.

“Is it?” He grinds his stone lips together. “I mean, I can’t say it was a _success_. The only ones who showed were my mum and her stupid boyfriend.”

“The pamphlet. How long was it?”

“Five standard pages, more or less?”

Loki raises a brow. “Five?”

“Small font,” Korg assures him. “It all fit on one double-sided sheet when I was done. Quite informative. Background on the movement. Why this revolution is for YOU! That type of thing.”

Loki starts to sit up and pauses, hands on Korg's boulder knees for balance. His head cocks, like he's considering something, and gives Korg an odd look.

Deciding something, maybe, he resumes his previous position against Korg's chest. Loki settles more comfortably, a knee drawn up. “Do you have copies?” he asks.

“You...want to read one?” Korg warms at the thought, or as much as a pile of rocks can. Even his mum didn’t _want_ to read the thing. Korg forced it into her hands, and even then he read it to her out loud. She claimed the type was too small, she couldn’t even see the words. Korg said she was being lazy, which - in hindsight - is a rude thing to say to one’s mum.

“Might as well,” the ghost says, shrugging. “There’s nothing better to do until we get to wherever we're going. I...assume we're going somewhere?”

"Place called Earth," Korg confirms. "Thor's choice. Miek was going to pick, but we sorta thought he was dead at the time."

"Earth." Loki laughs, a soundless thing behind a crinkled smile. "Of course."

Korg tilts his head. “So, you’re sticking around?”

Loki takes a moment to answer. “I guess I am,” he says. "For now."

This makes Korg happy, and the only way he knows to express it is to gently pat Loki’s shoulder. His body is so slight, Korg only manages to touch him with two fingers, the rest of his hand draping down his arm. Loki makes a sound, a scoff or a chuckle? Whatever it is, he doesn’t move, and Korg beams.

“You want to see your brother?” Korg asks.

“Yes, I should do that.” Loki sighs. “Later. I still feel...hm. Are you moving?”

“No,” Korg says.

“Good,” the ghost says. He sounds strangely sincere.

*The End*


End file.
